A Vietnam Airlines Airbus A321-200, registration VN-A605 performing flight VN-7414 from Ho Chi Minh City to Banmethuot (Vietnam), was climbing through FL170 out of Ho Chi Minh's runway 25L with a number of thunderstorm cells more than 20nm away when the aircraft encountered hail for about 7 seconds causing the captain's windshield to crack. The crew decided to return to Ho Chi Minh City for a safe landing on runway 25R about 25 minutes after departure.
A replacement A321-200 registration VN-A601 reached Banmethuot with a delay of about 2 hours.
The occurrence aircraft returned to service about 41 hours after landing.